No PriorsTaking on ServiceNow: Coding Agents for the Rest of Us with Serval Co-Founder and CEO Jake Stauch
Episode Details
EPISODE INFO
- Released
- October 29, 2026
- Duration
- 38m
- Channel
- No Priors
- Watch on YouTube
- ▶ Open ↗
EPISODE DESCRIPTION
What happens when you put code-generation agents in the hands of enterprise IT teams? With Serval, you get a system where it's easy for everyone to be a builder. Sarah Guo and Elad Gil sit down with Serval co-founder and CEO Jake Stauch to analyze his company’s direct challenge to ServiceNow as the enterprise automation and service management system of record. Jake explains that by building an AI platform for enterprise IT departments with Serval, users can safely build while still safeguarding permissions by strict deterministic approvals and an audit trail. He also talks about ProServal, the company’s team that embeds automation engineers directly with customers in order to provide ongoing support and service. Jake also discusses how AI was the big unlock to taking on ServiceNow, why he’s betting on coding agents getting even better, why consumer is a window into what will happen next in enterprise and why the SaaS-pocalypse might look more like a consolidation, why background agents are still a moonshot in enterprise software, and the importance of hiring product-oriented engineers. Sign up for new podcasts every week. Email feedback to show@no-priors.com Follow us on Twitter: @NoPriorsPod | @Saranormous | @EladGil | @jakeserval | @getserval Chapters: 00:47 – Jake Stauch Introduction and Serval’s Background 03:00 – Expanding Coding Agents Beyond Engineers 04:40 – Limitations with Personal Agents in Enterprise 06:29 – Deploying Serval Effectively in Large Orgs 07:55 – Day 1 Ambition and Attacking Enterprise Systems of Record 09:51 – Taking on ServiceNow with Workflow Automation Platform 11:01 – Betting on the Evolution of Coding Agents and Building Guardrails in Enterprise 14:30 – Big Risks, Big Rewards, and Big Predictions for Serval and Coding Agents 17:24 – Adopting Different Sets of Building Principles at an Enterprise Level 21:31 – Token Maxing, Long-Term Budget Impacts, and ROI 23:21 – The SaaS-pocalypse and SaaS vs. AI 25:21 – The Mental Model for Delivering Platform-Level Power to the IT User at Enterprise 27:26 – Building Automations with Catalyst and Raising Technical Competence 29:38 – The Next Wave: Background Agents and Autonomy in Enterprise 33:07 – Hiring Velocity and Unlimited Ambition at Serval 34:59 – Keeping Pace with Customers and Fundamental Shifts in Product Function 37:46 – Conclusion
SPEAKERS
Jake Stauch
guestCo-founder and CEO of Serval, building enterprise automation/ITSM coding agents to compete with ServiceNow.
Elad Gil
hostCo-host of No Priors.
Sarah Guo
hostCo-host of No Priors.
EPISODE SUMMARY
In this episode of No Priors, featuring Jake Stauch and Elad Gil, Taking on ServiceNow: Coding Agents for the Rest of Us with Serval Co-Founder and CEO Jake Stauch explores serval’s bet: guarded coding agents to replace ServiceNow in enterprise Jake Stauch describes Serval as an enterprise automation and service management platform that uses code-generation agents to help IT and other teams build workflows and get help at work, positioning it as a direct competitor to ServiceNow.
RELATED EPISODES
